A New Player on the Board
by FlynnLivesndIwilbuildtheGrid
Summary: What would happen if an entity as old as the creation itself, that had been lost in his own mind for eons. found a reason to come and see this beautiful world. And his reason is Steven Quartz Universe. Imagine the amount of insanity that can occur when super powered beings with variable personalities, and the insanity of the Crystal Gems.
1. Chapter 1

Steven woke gasping for breath, looking around, his mind came back to reality as he took in the quiet house around him. Then promptly flipped out when he saw Pearl watching him sleep, again.

"Pearl, I thought I told you to not to watch me sleep anymore."

Pearl looked over at him with a look of concern.

"Well I did for a while, then you kept waking up in the middle of the night gasping for air, I just wanted to make sure it wasn't Lion doing something to you while you slept."

"No it's not Lion, I keep having this dream and I can never seem to remember it."

The look of concern on Pearl's face deepened.

"Hmm, we should go get Garnet, she'll propably be able to help use see what's going on inside your dreams."

Pearl got up and went to the Temple door.

"I'll be back in a minute Steven, try and get some sleep, or you can wait for us. Either way your going to have to go back to sleep."

Pearl opened the door and went inside, the door closed behind her and then there was silence. Steven was unsure if it was wise to go back to sleep, but he knew that his body needed in order to function. It was almost instantly that his body seemed to pull his mind back into the oblivion of sleep and within a few seconds Steven was fast asleep.

On the other side of the looking glass we find Steven falling through the air.

Steven was slow to reailze what was happening around him. But as he got hold of his senses he realized that the ground wasn't getting any closer. Much time passed with him just falling throught the midnight sky, waiting to hit a ground that would never met him. A minute, then an hour, so much time passed that, in the 'completely logical' setting of a dream, Steven grew a snow white beard. The sensation of waiting seemed all encompassing around Steven, the world around him seemed to almost say it was waiting for something to happen.

Then Steven heard someone call his name from what seemed miles above. Steven looked up to see Garnet shooting down towards him. Steven moved out of the way, sure that Garnet would smash into him if he didn't. The odd thing was that as Garnet got closer to Steven she started falling slower, so slow in fact, that when she reached Steven she was falling at the same speed as him.

"Steven, can you hear me?" Garnet said, it was honestly very strange indeed. Steven could hear her easily over the wind in his ears.

Steven nodded and asked, "How are you here?"

Garnet removed glasses and pointed to her third eye which was wide open staring off to the right.

"We need to find the source of this dream."

Steven was confused, "Isn't this my dream?"

Garnet shook her head. "This is a projection, someone elses mind is making this."

Garnet scooped Steven up in on arm and angled herself so that she and Steven fell to the right instead of straight down. The dream didn't seem to like that, it almost seemed as if the dream didn't want to them to get any farther. Slowly they did make progress.

After a time of moving in the same direction they saw a flat-topped mountain in the distance on level with them. It grew closer until they saw a blue dot on top of the mountain. Both the dot and the mountain grew larger as they neared.

When they finally landed on the mountain, they saw that the blue dot they had seen from far off was actually a massive dome that emminated the color blue from it's core. At it's core was a man floating in the exact middle of the dome on his back, he seemed to look around the age of twenty five. He looked to be dressed in a pair of pale white pants and a shirt. There was nothing on his feet.

The man seemed completely unaware of the two of them. "We've found the core, let's go and see if it is aware." Garnet said walking up to the dome with Steven safely behind her. Steven reached for his chin to stroke his beard only to find it was gone, shrugging it off he watched Garnet walk up to the dome.

Garnet was unsure of how to proceed, it seemed to have encased itself in some form of protective dome. With great caution Garnet walked to the dome and placed a hand on it. In the same instant Garnet touched the dome a voice came from the dome but the figure within didn't move at all.

"Yes?" The voice sounded old, but at the same time it seemed to sound kind in it's age.

"Who are you?"

"Last."

"Last of what?"

"Unknown."

"How can you not know why your called Last?"

"I do, it is my name I chose."

Garnet was already tired of this conversation seeing as it had stone walled.

"Alright then, why have you tethered your mind to Steven's?"

"He is strong, stronger than all else, but that is not the reason. The reason is his love, it is in his nature to love everything around him. I have not felt anything for a very long time, so long that I doubted I could anymore. Then I felt his love for the world he lives on, and it gave me a reason to pull myself from the dark."

Garnet was fairly surprised by his answer but the last part bothered her. "What dark?"

The dome 'laughed' softly at the question.

"Hahaha, all I need is a little love in my life, all I need is a little love in the dark, something that might just kick start, me and my broken heart."

The man under the dome turned from laying on his back to straight up. He descended to the ground below him and walked to the edge of the dome. The dome seemed to break apart and fall in on itself towards Last. Garnet stepped back and so did Steven, right up to the egde of the mountain plateau.

The still brightly shining dome pressed itself on to Last's body then fell into it gathering at the point in his body where his heart should be. The blue of the dome gradually started to pulse, it began picking up speed until it beat about 90 times a minute. Last opened his eyes to reveal blue eyes that almost seemed to be flaming around the began to walk to Garnet and Steven.

"Thank you. I would have never had the will to leave here if not for you Steven." Last was in front of Garnet at this point. Quicker than is perceptable, Last raised a hand to Garnet's third eye and closed it. Within the time it took Garnet to know what had happened she was gone. To say Steven was shocked would be an understatment.

"What did you do to her?"

"I manually ejected her from this construct, because I wanted to talked to you privately."

"What's to stop her from coming back here to get me?"

"Time, in here time runs at a rate of about 1 hour here equals 1 minute one floor up. One floor up from here being reality, or at least your reality. That and that I don't want her back in, too stern for my liking. Now back to why your still here. I'll make this brief I'm nearly there."

"To where?"

"To you, in reality my body is heading towards you. Almost like there's a bullseye on you. That's what the forever fall was about, me waiting to reach you, my reason. You see Steven, you are the bi-product of a love that shouldn't have worked, you are half human and half gem. Someone like you shouldn't be able to live but it seems nature has a few rules it needs to revise because here you are, impossible but true. You are a being that can do anything with time and training. Your emotions aren't bound to a three-dimensional world. They almost come off as a wavelength, a signal for all the world to see. Me on the other hand, I felt it from what seems like the darkest place in my mind, your emotions were strong enough to bring me out of away from Oblivion's edge. For that I must thank you with both my hearts."

Steven's expression changed quite a few times through the course of what he heard. First fear, then that fear softened as the explanation went further. Eventually his face settled into complete neutrallity.

"How long until you reach me?"

Last pondered for a moment as he calculated the time left.

"Hmm, I will be there at sunrise, the way we can judge time from in here, is by looking up at the brightest star, that one is my body falling to earth, or at least something to represent it. When that star lands it will be dawn and this place won't exist as we see it right now, it will change into whatever my mind makes it into, for the moment it's mostly set, unchanging. But what's a dream if you can't change it, this dream is based off my old perception of the world. Untouchable, no matter how much I wanted, and that's why I am falling, so I can finally touch the world I have watched since it has been here to watch. I don't know how to describe how I looked at your world, I just want to touch it, to feel something besides waiting."

"Well, what do we do now?"

A chess board rose from the ground along with two chairs. "Care for a game?"

"I don't even know how to play?" Steven said climbing into his chair.

The chairs and the board moved themselves away from the edge of the mountain. "That's alright, I can teach you. We certainly have the time to do it, I can even teach you a few tricks and strategies that most people don't know."

Many hours passed and many hundreds of rounds of chess were played as the star drew low on the horizon.

"Checkmate" Steven said with a smug smile, Last was shocked.

"Well, it looks like i've taught you all I can about chess." Last said looking at the star. "And it looks like we are almost out of time." Last turned back to Steven with a serious look on his face. "Steven, when I do make it to Earth, I want you to promise me that you'll be the one that I see first when I get there." Steven nodded. "Well then, it looks like it's time to wake up."

As Last said that that star impacted the horizon and a white energy burst from it, it expanded out in all direction, wiping the land clean of all things.

"Hey Steven." Last called to him over the roar of the explosion.

"Yeah?" Steven shouted back.

"Catch you on the flid-side." Last shouted with a smile, just then the explosion reached them and the world was blank.

Steven gasped for air opening his eyes to see, not an explosion, but to see his room with Garnet siting right next to him asleep in her own dreams. Turning his head somewhat Steven saw the first glimmer of sunlight coming over the horizon.

'It's dawn.' Last's voice sounded in Steven's head. 'Get ready, because here I come.'


	2. The Arrival

"Good morning Steven, sleep well?" Garnet said

Steven looked at her and was about to question her but Last's voice sounded once more in Steven's head.

'I altered her memory, as far as she recalls she has been watching over you all night, answer as you would normally.'

Steven continued as if nothing had happened, "Fine, better than I have in a few days."

Garnet cracks a small smile, "That's good maybe whatever was keeping you up is over no..."

Garnet was interupted by an erth shattering sonic boom from outside. Garnet and Steven rushed out side to see what was happening followed quickly by Pearl and Amethyst.

"Garnet what happened?" Pearl said in a panic.

Garnet simply pointed skyward, as everyone followed her line of sight they saw a flaming object coming in fast.

'Be careful about this Steven, if they see me as a threat they will try and attack. It wouldn't go well for any of us. Get your shield ready, I'll try and land in water, soften the landing.'

The object changed directions, now instead of flying at a slanted angle towards the beach. It had adjusted itself so that it was falling straight down.

"It changed direction?" Pearl said in surprise.

The object crashed into the water and a massive wave was brought up by it. But another odd thing happened, the wave stopped and retreated to its center and the object flew from the water towards the beach. As it grew closer the actuall shape became clear. It was a human, or at least something with human form.

Steven was already running to where Last was going to land, not that the gems noticed seeing as they had their eyes train on a flying Last.

Last landed hard and formed a small hole in the sand, his body pulled itself from the ground and simply floated a few inches from the ground.

Steven was at the hole in a matter of moments, he looked exactly as he had in the dream. Last had his eyes closed, but his presence in mind was still around.

'Steven quickly, I need something to keep me here, grab my hand, it will bind me to the material world.'

"Steven! What are you doing so close, it could be dangerous." Steven looked up at Pearl and the back and Last frozen between what he should do.

'Steven' Steven turned to look at Last. 'This is your choice, leave me, or help me. Either way I know you made the best dicision you could.' Last's eyes opened slightly as he reached out a hand towards Steven. Steven made his decision and reached out his hand for Last. The three gems leapt at him to try and stop him. Time seemed to slow down around them as Steven grasped Last's hand at the same second that the gems got to him and Last's eyes burst open, to reveal glowing white eyes.

It was however, not noticed seeing as an explosion erupted from Last 0.3 seconds later. The explosion was a soft shade of blue that didn't seem to harm anything. It expanded quickly, picking up speed with each and every moment, covering first the city then the continent, and lastly the planet. The light from the explosion faded within a few seconds. The scene was almost exactly the same as it had been before, except that Last was standing upright and a pair of snow white wings were now on his back.

"Material anchor found, physical form requiring adjustment, all senses fully connected, magic capability for entire planet restored, backup set, mental capacity optimal, begin wake up." Last talked almost robotically for the duration of it and as the last words were spoken his eyes shifted from glowing white back to their usual flaming blue as Last promptly fell to his knees and exploding into a small heart shaped diamond lined all around its edges with a band of gold.

Hope you guys feel shocked or that the world is a lie right now, because it only get's crazier down the Rabit Hole.


	3. Test Drive the power

"So tell me again why we can't just bubble it?" Amethyst said in mild annoyance.

"Because it doesn't seem to work on it, every time we try it instantly breaks." Garnet said in the same manner as Amethyst.

"Well I understand that," Pearl said annoyed, "but did you really have to bring the gem into the house?" Pearl said pointing to Last's gem which laid in the same basket that her gem had when she took a sword through the chest.

"Yep, because he asked to be brought inside." Steven said in his normal happy voice swinging his legs off the edge of the couch next to Amethyst.

"And how did he do that, he doesn't have a mouth to say anything." Pearl asked Steven.

'Because I don't need a mouth, you however, seem to have a very big one and an ego to match it.' Last's voice sounded.

There was a long silence after that as Pearl stood there shocked. Pearl then stormed away from Last going into her room.

'Well, now that the 'girl with a really big ego' is gone, what would you people like to know? Seeing as I don't have a body right now I can't really do much else but talk to you.'

Garnet was the first to speak, "Why did you come to Earth?"

"Simple enough, I came here to enjoy this world, try and be nice to the locals, and overall just have a blast."

Next up was Steven, "How come your body gave out as soon as you woke up?"

"That actually requires a bit more explaination. The body I had was built in such a way that it could only handle being ascended, I.E not on this plane of existence. So I am having to re-work it so that it can bold hold my power as well as stand here on the mortal plane, it also gives me the option to have a powered down ability. Just a normal guy, no anything really."

The question continued to flow for over an hour and by the end. Garnet was satisfied that Last possed no harm, Amethyst was ready to hit a club with him and Steven was up for another try at school, Last's way.

"Just one last question." Garnet said. 'And what is that?' said Last.

"What was is that you said about magic capabilities being restored to Earth?"

"The whole world was devoid of power I rectified that. Now the people of this world will be more capable of doing things without machines or any other outside help, it will however present a new problem that some will abuse their power, but I am certain that they will be few and far betwe..."

Last didn't finish his sentence as the heart sitting in the basket in front of Steven and Garnet floated up and hurled itself out the open window towards the ocean. All three of the gems that were present rushed outside in time to see a large white explosion occur about 20 miles off shore. The explosion caught itself after expanding to the size of a city block and ground to a halt. The white of the explosion turned to a deep blue as the energy changed into something that was as transparent as glass.

Last was at the middle of this of course but this time, instead of looking as if he was sleeping, he was standing upright on some unseen platform. Not that any of the gems could see this from land. The dome quickly was absorbed back into Last as he flew, yes flew, back to shore.

From shore Garnet was the first to spot Last inbound. "There." Garnet said pointing in the direction of Last. Almost within the same second that Garnet had said that Last dug his heels into the water to slow his rate of speed. When he reached the shore about 15 seconds later he was completely stopped.

He was the same as before but with one 'minor' change.

"Wow, those are so cool!" Steven exclaimed at seeing that Last now had a pair of snow white wings on his back.

"Like them, I thought I would add something so I could get around easily and not get tired."

"Your arms." Garnet said. "Why so many runes?"

"What do you mean Garnet?" Steven asked, Last didn't have his sleeves up.

There was a look of mild surprise on Last's face.

"You have better sight then I expected." Last said pulling up his sleeves on at a time.

As the sleeves rolled up, the disturbing image of odd symbols carved into skin began to burn itself into Steven and Amethyst's mind.

"If you must know, a simple anchor can't weigh down an airship. I was forced to use, unpleasant methods to have a physical presence here. Even with all of these, runes from across the stars, I still find it troublesome. I have to remember not to break the rules to much or I will float off this plane of existence. I can't go home, but it's so hard to stay here."

Last pulled back down his sleeves, "So long as we're answering question. Garnet, if your senses are that sharp, can you see the 4th Wall? Shut up viewers, I don't need to hear you ask the say question she's about to?"

Garnet was a little disturbed by the last part but answer. "What's a 4th Wall?"

"Ohh, come now my deary, you must know what your story is right?"

"Story?" At this point Garnet was getting confused and angry.

"You, Steven, hell, this whole planet. It's all apart of one persons story, not even a good one. It's barely been seen, and the worst part is that I have to walk on paper, my words carry no sound. I know I am a part of a story... you are about to do something aren't you, ."

"Yep."

A white oblivion engulfs Last and standing in front of him is me.

"That was very bad on your part Last."

"I don't care, go back to your room and type up a love life or some thing."

"I will ignore that and undo your screw-up, well I won't unwrite it. I'll just blank their memory and write up something to fill the gap. You do realize that they can't know everything right?"

"Ya, I know, give them to much know-how they go poof. We've been through this before, as I do recall I have 11 brothers and si.."

"You better shut your mouth right there, I haven't brought them in yet. They don't need to know about the Divine override."

"The what?" Last said with a grin.

I look at myself in the mirror, I'm an idiot.

"I don't suppose you'll let me erase that will you?"

"Nope, it's the best screw-up i've gotten out of you if 2000 years."

"You can't let Sparta go can you?"

"Never have, never will."

"I'm tired of this."

A giant clock appear off to the side, facing us. We both walk to it's hands.

"Care to help me turn back the clock?"

Last was picking something from his nails, "Well todays friday so, sure why not."

Together we pulled back the hands off time and the world blanks out.

Yes, I know, I have created a sentient character that knows we exist, this is bad. I can't do anything to him however, his power matched mine. Till next time.


	4. They've Found Him

Time resumes at a point about 15 seconds before Last had his meltdown.

"So, are we done here?" Last asked. Garnet nodded.

"Yes, we're done."

Last's wings folded themselves in close to his back.

"Good, now then let's..." Last didn't get to finish that sentence as he fell to his knees in what seemed like pain. Steven rushed to him.

"I thought I could go unsensed just a little longer, I thought they might not notice me coming in."

"Who noticed you?" Garnet said in an extremely serious tone.

Last's image seemed to flicker for half a second, "They are the others like me, they all fell before me, I was the last to fall. (There's the answer to the question of why his name is Last.) I just want to feel, feel something besides the Void that I spent eternity in. I thought I could hide my presense from their senses, but it feels like they didn't lose their powers either. They're coming, get me inside. This will not end well."

Garnet immediately pulled Last onto her back and rushed to the house. As they rushed to the house the sky darkened quickly and grew stormy.

"Steven." Last said in a quiet voice. He weakly raised a hand. "Lend me some of your strength."

Steven grasped Last's hand as his eyes flickered to white for a moment as Steven began to feel weak. Last's grip strengthened as he pulled Steven up into Garnet's arms.

"Thank you, now I can at least hide you from them."

Last leapt from Garnet's arms and bolted up into the beach house beconing the others in after him. He shut the door and began to press his fingers to the floor next to the door. As he pulled his fingers from one side of the door to the other a white glow came from the part of the floor where his fingers had traced. He repeated the process of the windows as well.

"Garnet." Last said as he opened the door. "Take care of Steven, he's more important than can be imagined." With that Last walked out the door and shut it behind him.

Last looked up at the sky and watched as a faint shimmer circled the beach and a lightining bolt hit the beach.

"You've always had to be dramatic when it came to your entrances haven't you, Gabriel?"

Out of the small cloud of sand that the bolt kicked up the figure of something that appeared human came into view.

"Didn't think you paid enough attention to know that I have a new name."

"I always watch, now what are you doing here?"

"Ooo come on lossen up, I can't visit the last one of us to fall to the mortal plane?"

"Not where we are concerned, it's never just a visit."

Gabriel's expression dropped from that of happiness to completely serious.

"Where's your anchor? Must be incredibly strong to keep you grounded here."

"Not quite enough." Last said pulling up a sleeve to reveal the runes on his arms.

"Well, falling AND tattoos. In the same day no less, maybe you really have pulled that stick out of your ass."

"( growls slightly) Not funny, and why did you think it was necessary to put that much energy into braking my masking wards?"

"Well, for starters, if I didn't pull almost all your energy out from under you, you would have shoot off-world before I came within a light-year of this place."

"Clever, that's so unlike you, you've been learning since you've been here."

Gabriel smilled a very sly smile, "Speaking of learning, I learned a trick around your little ward that is supposed to keep me from knowing where your anchor is. All I had to do was stretch my senses all over this little town until I found a spot where I picked up nothing, and the only place around here where I sense nothing (laughs a little under his breath) is in the house behind you."

Last was shocked, he didn't even hide it.

"Well, before I start trying to throw you off this plane of existence, give me ONE reason why I should trust you enough to not do so."

Gabriel's smile faded abruptly. "I'm desperate, my anchor is going to die soon and I need a new one, and I don't want one that will be gone in a couple of decades. I've been looking for an anchor that could last as long as us, then I felt you on my radar for the smallest fraction of a second, I thought I had imagined it, but I held out hope that it was you.

You are one of the strongest of us, so you would need someone that could ride the whirlwind. So I followed you here, hoping to find someone like that, but all there is on this hunk of rock are humans. So I'll, ask once, only once. Before we both do something we'll regret. What, on this ROCK, did you anchor yourself to."

Last sighed slowly and walked slowly to the door.

"My anchor is an impossible child." Last opened the door watching Steven tumble out onto the porch, since he had been listening from the other side.

Shock filled Gabriels face. "Noo, you found an impossible child, a child born against all the laws of creation? Wait, noo, there's something else, he's half gem? He smells like stone and blood. You realize that.."

"Yes, I do and I didn't find him. He found me, in the cold and the dark."

Last neiled down to Steven. "Where did the others go?"

"They went to find Pearl in the Temple."

"What! Little Miss Ego is in there too? What else do you have in that house?"

Last turned his head back to Gabriel who was walking slowly towards the two of them.

"She used the other method to fall, she isn't awake to who she was before, but I fear two of us here will cause something to surface in her mind."

Gabriel was almost all the way up the stairs but his path was blocked by Last.

"Swear, in the name of the 14 original entities, that your intentions are pure, and that you will to the best of your ability behave."

Gabriel swore to the conditions that Last had outlined and Last stood aside but grabbed Gabriel's shoulder before he walked all the way past.

"It is still Steven's choice, you don't get to scare a 'yes' out of him."

Gabriel looked at Steven. "Have you been listening from the start?" Steven nodded.

"Then this will be simple enough, will you allow me to anchor myself onto you?"

Steven pondered for a minute, weighing the options he had. His immediate thought was to say no, but then again Gabriel had not done anything wrong since he appeared, and saying no would probably result in a large fight between Last and Gabriel.

Steven raised up a hand towards Gabriel. Gabriel smiled and slowly raised his own hand, savoring the moment. When their hands connected nothing happened for a moment, then the quiet sound of chains breaking was heard and a jolt of energy passed between Gabriel and Steven.

"I'm curious," Steven said to the both of them, "why a hand-shake?"

They both looked at each other for a moment and answered in unison. "Universal sign of agreement."

"So," Last said to Gabriel, "Do you think anyone else detected me?"

"You weren't exactly sile.." Gabriel was cut short by Pearl coming out of nowhere.

"Steven!" Pearl screamed as she pulled two spears and drove one into Last's chest and the other into Gabriel's.

Gabriel grunted slightly and Last looked down at the spear.

"That freaking hurt!" They both exclaimed in some very rightous anger.

Last pulled the spear from his chest and broke it over his knee. There was a small trickle of blood for a moment before the wound sealed, but there it was, hot red blood.

The same thing happened to Gabriel after he had pulled the spear, he bleed for a moment and the wound sealed.

Gabriel took a step towards Pearl with a dark look in his eyes but was stopped by Last.

"Easy, we don't need her trying to kill us later, let it go."

Gabriel gave a long arctic cold stare at Pearl, the kind that makes people wet themselves out of fear.

"Fine."

Last calmed slightly and looked for Steven. He was hiding behind the couch.

"Steven, are you ok, you look scared as Hell, trust me when I say that, I've been there."

Steven turned to Last and hugged him crying slightly. "Your not dead!"

Last laughed as if it was hillarious. "It's gonna take a lot more than a spear through the chest to take me out, a lot more."

Last pulled Steven up and over the couch and sat him down.

"That's enough excitement for one day."


	5. The Magic's Source

"So are we good, no more trying to kill us?" Gabriel asked Pearl.

Pearl nodded and sipped a bit of tea she had made herself. "It's not my fault, I was protecting Steven, I didn't know if you were a threat, from how Last talked you seemed like you were going to trash the planet."

"I could if you actually want me to." Gabriel said with a grin.

Pearl's eyes widened immensly and said a hasty, "No no, that won't be neccesary."

Connie walked in from outside and called out, "Hey, Steve..."

Connie stopped abruptly, stumpled to her knees and clutched her head weakly. Steven ran quickly up to her to help her over to the couch.

"Are you ok Connie?" Steven asked worriedly.

Connie nodded, "I'm fine, it's just when I walked through the door, it felt like something just rammed into my mind."

"That would be us." Both Last and Gabriel said in unison.

Connie looked over at the two of them with a raised eyebrow and a look of confusion.

"We automatically look into the mind's of anyone that comes within a certain distance of us, but you puzzles that out when it happened twice. Now your looking at us because you feel something, something you can't quite explain, something that called you to come here."

Everyone looked at Last as if he had grown a second head, even Gabriel. Last ignored the looks and continued, all the while looking at Connie, and the world around them didn't seem to exist.

"Would you like to see what it is that brought you here?"

In the silence, Connie nodded slowly.

"Great, just look away for a second or you'll go blind." The void around them vanished and the noise of the world came flooding back in.

Last raised his hands and formed a large sphere in his hands, there was a light brighter than a blue giant, but if anyone had been capable of seeing past the light they would have seen two dark outlines appear inside the sphere and gradually it became more solid. When it was done the light vanished and the sphere did as well, allowing a pitch black egg as well as a water blue egg to fall into Last's hands.

"You may look now."

Connie turned to see it, "Are those eggs?"

"Yes they are, the last dragon eggs at that." Last spoke quietly, almost as if he was trying not to wake the eggs, or maybe comforting small children?

"That preposterous! There is no such species."

"Not anymore there isn't, there was once a race of dragon, that lived on a planet much like this, they began to die for some reason that I could never figure out, but the last dragons to die were two mothers clutching their eggs. They roared at the sky begging someone to save their children, roaring till their last breath, I tried not to listen, but it drove me mad to hear the sound of such heartbreak. So I granted their wish and pulled the eggs from the mortal plain. I promised them that I would see to it that their children could fly under an open sky one day, and in their last moments I saw relief and hope come over them.

I will never understand how the dragons all came to die, they were the strongest of creatures, especially in magic. It runs hotter than Hell in their veins, and just as thick."

Pearl listened to the story but said nothing, if even on drop of the story was true then she imagined herself in the dragon's places with Steven as one of the eggs.

"Last," Gabriel said with concern,"you know that they are supposed to be dead species right?"

"The species is not dead if there is even a piece of them left, besides, we of all people should understand that no rule is absolute." said Last

Last raised the egg out to Connie, "Would you like to hold one, I have a feeling this one likes you."

Connie walked slowly towards Last and pulled the midnight black egg from his hands. A new sensation passed through Connie's mind, much like the mental probe that Last and Gabriel had done, but this one was weak and entirely passive.

"It seems to like you." Gabriel said with a great deal of certainty.

"How so, it's not doing anything." Connie said out of curiousity.

"It's for that reason that we do know, if it didn't like you there would be a good possibility that it would be mentally attacking everyone here, but it seems that Hope here has taken to you, maybe even imprinted."

Connie looked at the egg and just stared for a long time, the she smiled and hugged the egg.

Now it was Last's turn to smile, "Well it seems to me that you've accepted the role of being a mother to one of the last dragons in existence."

"What!"

Everyone turned to see Ronaldo standing at the front door.

Ronaldo came inside and ran up to Last looking at the egg in his hands and tried to grab it. Last raised the egg above his head, above Ronaldo's reach. At the same time the egg in Connie's hands lifted from her grasp to the same height as the other.

"Ohh, come on, I just want to examine it." Ronaldo said in a somewhat pleading tone.

"The last time you got a magical item you tried to dissect it, that is not something that I'm going to let happen to these eggs."

"Do you see these reading?" Ronaldo exclaimed gesturing to a small device he held in his hand that had pegged itself on the right side.

"These eggs are emitting some form of radiant energy that is affecting everyone on the planet."

"You can't be serious." Connie said looking up at her egg.

Ronaldo turned to her, "If you don't believe me turn on the news."

Connie walked over to the televison and turned it to the next news station which was in the middle of a news alert.

"This is happening live as we speak, it would appear that every human on earth has been altered in such a way as we are now seeing." The camera turns to look at a man holding a small ball of lightining in his hand looking amazed.

The camera snaps back to the reporter, "As you can see the situation is unbelievable. Early in the week scientists detected a large surge of radiant energy that was powerful enough to cover the planet, since then many people have all claimed to have a spontaneous onset of a severe headache, after which they all appear to be capable of performing acts that can only be described as both miracles and magic."

The tv turned itself off with no obvious culprit.

"Now you know to some what is happening outside." Last said turning his head towards Ronaldo. "How is it you built a device that can detect magic in under 2 days."

"When I saw the flash on the beach, I got a severe migrane that left me unable to do anything for about 6 hours. Sometime during it I passed out, during the dream I had while I was unconcious, I was standing at a large door with many odd carving in it. When I looked around all I saw was white, until I saw the outline of what appeared to be a human. When it realised that I was aware of it, it told me, 'Your toll has been payed for you and the power behind the door is now available to the people of this world who pay the toll for this knowledge.' After that the door opened behind me and I was dragged inside.

Inside I was forced to endure what seemed like endless amounts of information being poured into my head. It was all on the subject of alchemy, at first my mind couldn't handle it, then it all became clear. After that I woke up on the floor of my lair up in the lighthouse and tried out some of what I learned inside the door. To my surprise, it actually worked. I was able to transmute a chair into a wooden sculpture of a swan. Then an idea dawned on me, why not try do create a device that could trace the power back to its source, and well here we are."

Last stayed quiet for a moment, "So your the first to learn alchemy, now you really aren't allowed to touch the eggs."

"Come on why not?!" Ronaldo whined.

"Because you now know alchemy, and by all regards you will try to transmute the eggs and the dragons inside into something else, life is sacred. What can be as valuable as life?"

Ronaldo slouched in sadness, "Alright I see your point, no transmuting the living."

"Or the dead for that matter, it never works out." Last said in a serious tone.

There was silence for a long moment as the eggs descended back down to their respective people.

"What not?" Garnet asked.

"I dont know about you people," Last said sitting down and folding his legs into a meditational pose, "but i'm going to place a call, I hope she'll hear it in her sleep."

Far off many light years from Earth, we find Lapis Lazuli chained to the ground in a dungeon far beneath the ground.

"Why?" She begged to know from her fellow gems.

"You have been deemed corrupt by the Empire, rot here for the rest of time." The gem said walking out of the room and closing the door behind him.

Lapis sat there for a very long time, crying for the fate she had been dealt.

'I would go anywhere just to be free of this place, even Earth!'

Not long after, Lapis began to feel something at the edge of her mind. It took the shape of Last in front of her, though she didn't know who she was seeing, the thought that she did know who Last was knawed it's way through her mind. Last knelt down and wispered something into her ear. The gem on her back glowed faintly for a moment as the chains that bound her broke apart.

Lapis stood and paused as a small memory floated to the surface.

"Last."

The roof above Lapis broke apart and every other roof above it. The moon shone down onto Lapis as she brought out her wings for the first time in some time. Alarms went off all over the facility as all the cells containing supposedly corrupt gem burst from their hinges and many hundreds of gems were freed. Those that didn't readily leap from their cells for whatever reason, floated from them after a moment. Next came the gaurds trying to subdue the gems, all of those gaurds that came close fell to the ground and retreated into their gems.

Lapis walked from her cell and raised a hand to the nearest gem, all the gems did this, without being asked or forced. When all the gems had each other in their grasp a look of shattered focus passed over Lapis's face. There was a long moment where nothing happened. Then the sound of vast wings straining against a large weight was heard, and all those gems that had been trapped for so long, simply vanished in a gust of wind.


	6. Welcome Home

Pain.

The only thing I felt for a long time was pain.

When I first came home I landed in the garden of the castle that had housed the royal family for forever. I was greeted by the armed guard. It was standard protocol so I didn't think much of it. They grabbed hold of me and dragged me towards the castle.

I was placed in prison cell and told to rot because they thought I was corrupt. It was idiotic, they could plainly see I wasn't corrupted. But apparently the word of the royal family over rules logic.

I laid in that cell for hours, then days, then I don't know how long. Since gems didn't need food or water no one ever came down to interact with us in any way. Then one day, I was on the floor with a very hollow look in my eyes then I saw someone appear in front of me. One second he hadn't been there the next he simply was.

I pulled myself up to a siting position and looked at him. For some reason it felt like some part of me knew exactly who he was, and it bothered me because all I did was draw a blank.

He kneeled down to me and asked me something quietly.

"Do you still remember our first sunrise?" He asked it gently as if I would break it he said it too loud.

At first I didn't quite understand it. Before I could even ask him what he meant he was gone again and the chain that had kept me here for so long snapped like twigs.

I stood trying to make sense of what had just happened, and a memory came back to me, a memory that wasn't mine.

(Into the Memory!)

We were sitting on a beach somewhere on one of the first planets to cool after our 'brother' built the starting point of the universe. That man did love it when things went BOOM!

It was the first time I had been to see the ocean and it was beautiful.

"You ready?" Last asked me.

"Yep." I piped in happily I had seen suns before of course, but I had never see one 'rise'. My expectations were through the roof from the things that everyone said about it, it didn't disappoint.

"Here we go." Last said gesturing towards the horizon.

I was so excited when I saw the first glimmer of sun come over the waves. It truly was a beautiful sight.

Last leaned over and kissed me on the forehead.

"Do you want to know how Paradise looks?" Last asked me.

I shook my head.

"I'm already here."

(End of Flashback)

"Last."

A massive pain shot through my head and the ceiling above me broke abart.

'If I can't come back to this home then i'm going to find Last, i'm going to find a new home.'

I pulled my wings from my gem and was about to fly away when I thought about all the others that are trapped down here.

The pain returned and sirens blared as I heard all the door rip from their hinges including my own.

Many of the gems rushed from their cells but I felt a few that stayed in their cells. The strain in my head kept up as the gaurds came in and I tried to stop them, the gaurds fell to the ground and retreated into their gems, after that I picked up the gems that hadn't left their cells on their own.

Walking out of my cell I looked at all the scared gems and raised my hand out to the nearest gem. She was very slow to accept it but it seemed she enjoyed the act of kindness. Then she took her other hand and raised it to another gem. This cycle repeated until all the gems held each other.

This time I tried something new, I knew my water wings couldn't carry. But then something strange happened, I felt a new pair of wings join to my back. They seemed like they weren't actually physically there, but I needed to try them anyway. I tried to pull the gems, but it took a moment, then I couldn't think, I was just a wavelength carrying many other wavelengths.

I had to move us somewhere before we were lost in this place. There was a one sound that stood out from all the noise, it was pointing right at us.

(Copyright: One republic, Come Home)

"Come home, come home

'Cause Ive been waiting for you for so long, for so long

And right now there's a war between the vanities

But all I see is you and me

And the fight for you is all I've ever known

So come home."

The song was beautiful, I stretched out whatever counted as a hand in this place and dragged all of us as close to the source as I could. I had no more strength to fly so we fell from that place and landed on a beach.

The same person that had broke my chains now stood over me. Kneeling down to me again he whispered something into my ear just before I lost conciousness.

"Welcome, to a new home."


	7. Scared she won't love me anymore

"I'm an idiot."

"How?"

"Ronaldo is the alchemist, I accidentally put PeeDee."

"Yep, your a complete idiot, ON TO THE STORY!"

It had been many hours since Lapis had transported the imprisoned gems to Beach City and she had still not woken up.

Last had carried her in and placed a barrier over the couch that he had placed her on. Last then walked outside to retrieve the gems that were simply unconcious after the flight seeing as many of them weren't able to handle the trip and retreated into their gems.

One by one, Last carried them inside and, with Steven's permission, placed them in Rose Quartz's room.

"Alright Garnet, tell me again why we are letting him do this?" Pearl asked.

Garnet looked over at Last as he placed the Last gems in Rose's room. "Their like us, they did things that the Empire didn't look kindly upon and were imprisoned, deemed corrupted."

"But Garnet, what if some of these Gems really did deserve to be locked away?"

"Then I will take them back myself." Last said with conviction. "But for now, they will stay in Rose's room where they can at least be safe. Gabriel keep an eye on them from the inside, just in case anyone wakes up." Gabriel nodded and walked into Rose's room as the door shut behind him.

"Then what about her?" Garnet said gesturing towards Lapis.

"She is differen..." Last's sentence was cut short by the sound of something very large hitting the ocean outside.

The gems rushed outside to see what it was. A much larger version of the spheres that repaired the Galaxy Warp walked out of the water and was promptly smashed by the gems.

"More of them?" Pearl said worriedly.

"It would appear so." Garnet said. "But now anymore."

"I wouldn't be to quick to assume that Garnet" Last said from the front of the beach house. "You can't assume it's over, keep watching for more of them, they'll be more coming I'm sure."

Days past and Last as well as the gems keep track of the multiple situations that were taking place on and off the planet.

Lapis had not woken from her nearly catatonic state, but Last felt confident enough that the gems wouldn't attempt to kill her that he lower the shield he had placed around her. The world at large for the most part had actually taken rather well to the addition of magic into their lives. People that had once been mocked for learning languages that were supposedly magic were now feared because those laguages of magic now actually worked. Bullies now kept away from the skyrim gamers for fear of being 'fus ro dah'd' into a coma.

There were unfortunatly, many deaths that occured due to either accidents or they were intentionally done. Lastly, several more spheres fell over the next few days. It was now nearly night over Beach City on the 6th night.

"I don't get it, why isn't she waking up? Her body is perfectly fine, and her gem isn't cracked." Pearl asked Last who had been watching for any sign of change.

"I don't think it's her body that's damaged, when I called to her, she didn't know who I was. I had hoped she would, but it can't ever seem to work out that way."

"I still don't see how that would damage her mind." Pearl said trying to understand what she was hearing.

"Did I ever tell you the second method of falling? The method that almost all of the people like me used to fall?" Last said in a hollow almost monotone voice.

"No, though I am curious about how you came to be here in general." Pearl said.

"We leave everything we are behind, stripped from us are our powers, our bodies, even our memories. When we give it all up, we fall to the world of skin and bone, the absense that is created in this process must fill itself. One life ends, another begins. We die in a sense, and are reborn on this plane of reality, completely new."

"Why would anyone ever do that?"

"We all went insane. Even in a perfect world, being aline is something that will breaks even the strongest mind. We sat among our great acheivments with all these beautiful things and slowly went mad because we had no one with us. We lived in Paradise, but it felt more like Hell. Everyone left their there place in Paradise before me, I stayed trying to find a reason to stay. When I couldn't find a reason the light that shone on Paradise no longer warmed me and the fire in the dark couldn't thaw me from my lonelyness I took the path between the light and the dark."

"Between?"

"I left Paradise to find a reason, I had had enough of being alone, I never want to be alone again, the Void gave me my best chance to met someone. I sat waiting, reaching as far into it as I could. I can't tell you how long I tried to search, but I found someone floating in the Void with me. I found her." Last cupped Lapis's cheek, and unconsciously Lapis smiled slightly and nuzzled closer to Last's hand.

"Well, that explains how you know her, but you still haven't explained why you think it's her mind that is damaged."

"Memories are some of the hardest things to erase, you may try to purge them but still they are there, like a splitter, at the back of your mind. Some of us that fell, the first ones, they remembered who they were after they fell. Not at first, but with time and circumstance, they pulled together what was left of their memories and their powers came roaring back to them. It is my understanding that when their old selves clashed with whoever their current identity was it broke them at their seams. Two almost completely seperate beings forced to wake to a difficult reality. For the old self, that you are closer to a ghost than anything. For the current, it is the fact that your just some new piece to something much older than you, your basicly just a shadow, or a copy."

"Then what do they do after realizing something like that?" Pearl asked looking over at Lapis, trying to imagine the battle inside her head.

"The only thing that you can do, work together, come together, be a single person. The only way to stop endless war is to stop fighting. When you realize that your still the same person at the core, then both pieces become one, and the entity born from it is both and neither of the components. We get stronger when we are pushed to our limit."

"When do you think she will stop her battle?"

"When I step in."

Pearl looked at him like he was an idiot.

"Then why haven't you done it?"

"Because i'm scared. Scared that whoever walkes out of that battle won't love me like the ones that went into it. I can't stand the thought that I just found her again and that I caused this. I don't want to love a person that doesn't love me back, but I can't stop, no matter how hard I try. I just can't stop loving her."

Pearl looked back at Last. He had tears in his eyes, his entire expression gave the impression of a sad love struck puppy. Pearl's heart went out to Last, this is how she had been when Rose first left them.

Pearl akwardly tried to confort Last by patting him on the back.

"Do you want, to know one more thing?" Last asked slowly almost unsure if he should even say was he was about to say.

Pearl stopped patting, "What is it?" Pearl said seeing Last's uncertainty.

"We are able to see those of us that fell, as they are, we don't see peoples faces, we see their souls. Who they are at the core. You're like us, you fell long ago. I hope that you will settle your battle quickly." Last rose, lifted his left hand and placed his index and middle fingers on Pearl's gemstone.

There was a bright flash of light and Pearl's body retreated into her gem. ( details some other chapter.)

"Smart, make them wait to see the Hell I just woke up."

Last placed Pearl's gem in the small basket that still sat on the table and then stepped over to Lapis and picked her up bridal style.

"Please just remember me when you wake up." Last said as we took Lapis out of the house down to the beach.

Steven and Connie were on the beach talking about the new book that Connie had brought Steven while she was still caring for the dragon egg, but they quickly stopped as they saw the flash from the house and then Last walking out of the house with Lapis in his arms.

"Last! What are you doing with Lapis?" Steven yelled as he ran towards them.

Last simply ignored Steven and continued his slow march towards the water. When Steven drew to close an unseen force threw him back about a dozen or so feet.

"Steven!" Connie shouted as she ran back towards Steven.

The two watched as the ocean seemed to be waiting, it acted much like when Steven first set Lapis free. The water crawled up the beach to meet Last and more came the closer that Last carried Lapis to the water. Last stepped into the water and kept going, soon it was above his waist then his head. For a moment there was silence, then a familiar glow came from the water, the glow of fusion. The water boiled above the glow as the light grew stronger and steam poured off the water. The glow stopped and time ground to a halt for a moment, everything was still, Steven and Connie didn't know what to do.

A pillar of light burst from the ocean, similar to a warp pads light beam only 9,001 times brighter. A blurry figure rose from the water with four arms floating limply which then floated up through the pillar of light and made a small weezing sound, like it didn't know how to breath. The ocean enveloped the pillar and began to hiss as steam formed again, the wind howled around the pillar and lightining struck from the clouds above. The planet was actively trying to keep the fusion from roasting the city. It was a living star.

The light faded out, and Steven looked up at the figure, it didn't hold a stable shape all it was was a something that rapid shifted it's shape as if it couldn't decide.

Garnet and Amethyst burst from the house to see what had happened. Running over to Steven she yelled over the roaring wind. "What's happening?"

"Last fused with Lapis!" Steven screamed.

Then as suddenly as it began, it all stopped. The pillar vanished, the water fell back to the ocean, the wind ceased, and the clouds parted to reveal a beautiful night sky. The figure fell to the ocean which caught it and slowly pulled it to shore cooling it to a temperature that was safe. The others where waiting at the shore for it. Garnet looked down at the being, expecting it to burst awake and attack. After waiting over a minute Garnet knelt and checked for a pulse... there wasn't one.

"Their gone." Garnet said with finality.

"No!" Both Steven and Connie screamed as they rushed over to the fusion of Last and Lapis.

Then something strange happened, as Steven and Connie grabbed ahold of it's hand the being pulled in a large breath, raking it in under some unknown strain as it's back arched. Steven and Connie tried to let go in order to back away but their hands wouldn't release. Then they both begin to feel a pull on their lifeforce as it slumped back to the sand.

The fusions breath was shallow and quick. The pull increased as the broken voice of the entity breathed a silent song into their minds.

'All we need is a little love in our lives, all we is a little love in this dark, so strong it might just kick start, us and our broken hearts.'

Electricity passed over the entities skin and passed into Steven and Connie. The world went black, and then there was the sensation of moving. In the end they were in a place where all they could feel was each other. A light came down from above, it shone on Connie and Steven alone. It provided no light to the rest of the area.

"What is this place?" Connie asked holding on to Steven.

"I don't know, maybe it's their mind?" Steven said recalling Last saying how his mind would change after he was on Earth.

"Why is it so dark then?" Connie said scared of what might be in that darkness.

'Broken, damaged, not strong enough.' A voice said from no-where and everywhere. The voice receeded but didn't grow silent, it was there wispering in the background.

The light suddenly expanded to show a much larger area, it shown a light over unthinkable horror. Steven and Connie sat on a small raised platform that was surrounded with a lake of blood. Across the lake was a field that could have come straight out of World War 3.

There are no words that can describe the sensation that overtook them. It was an overwhelming sense that this was the end, that we are too weak to continue, the darkest mixture of thoughts. It would break the strongest of wills.

Both Connie and Steven fell to their knees and cried, this place is too much for anyone to survive.

"Don't give in." said a new voice from behind them.

Slowly they turned to see a child version of Last.

"Last?" Both of them asked in unison.

The child smiled, "Not quite, my name is Hope. I am part of the person you call Last's subconcious, i'm an emotional component. This place is very bad to talk in. Let's get going."

Hope raised a hand and a stone path raised from the Lake of Blood. Walking off the platform Hope motioned for them to follow. They walked far into the battlefield along a well warn path that didn't seem to be affected by the battle that had happened around it.

"What happened here?" Connie asked

"A battle between big people, and your wrong, not yet." Hope said as he took a turn towards an arch that stood alone away from the ruin around it.

"What do you mean not yet?" Connie said.

"This is one road that the world you live on can take, that road ends here." Hope stopped at the arc and gestured to it.

"If this is the end of the road for this place, how do we get out?" Steven asked looking at the arc.

Hope walked through the arc and slowly faded.

"We move forward."

The light quickly collapsed back onto only them and then vanished as they passed through the arc. Steven and Connie found themselves in a patch of silent woods. The atmosphere changed to that of peace. Steven and Connie looked back at the arc to see only a dirt road behind them.

"This is the junction point, we need a new destination." Hope said drawing their attention forward.

There were any number of arcs of to the sides of the path in front of them.

"Which one takes us to Last and Lapis?" Steven asked looking at the seemingly endless line of gateways.

Hope's expression darkened considerably.

"I can't take you there."

"Why not?" Connie asked. "The gate has to be here right?"

"The gate is here, it's just that. Where you wish to go, not even hope exists. They are fighting a losing battle, I can't go there. But I can show you the gate. I only hope that you can end the battle, brother knows that Last can't alone."

Hope guided them along the path for a long ways. Steven and Connie noticed that every so often a gate would be missing or vanish as they passed it. They eventually came to gateway that looked almost to be made petrified wood.

"You best get going, this place won't last much longer." Hope said with finality.

"What do you mean?" Steven asked.

"You've seen the gates disappearing, the gate you came through wasn't there when you looked back. It's all signs that the fusion in the real world is dying, the lights are going out, that means that they're so caught up in their fight that no one is keeping the body running, if they don't stop soon we all die."

Steven and Connie surpressed the urge to panic as the ground beneath them began to shake.

Hope's face turned serious, "Get going."

Steven and Connie jumped through the gate and the world went black around them.


End file.
